Pushing Her Luck
by Aeneid
Summary: AU. Katniss Everdeen dares, and she deals with the consequences.


**Disclaimer: The Hunger Games series do not belong to me. It belongs to Suzanne Collins.**

**Warning: Not 100% beta'd and was written for practice/exercise in this fandom. Might not make sense at times, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.**

* * *

**Pushing Her Luck**

* * *

It was weird being part of social events like these.

Their school, Fernwood Academy, an exclusive all-girls' school tying up with its counterpart, an exclusive all-boys' school, Northridge Academy, for a social event?

There _had _ been interactions in the past, but unlike the other girls, Katniss Everdeen was not used to it. She wasn't a man-hater, but conversing with the opposite sex, save for her male best friend, was difficult, and she simply did not go the extra mile to be friendly.

If the rumors that went around were true, the males from Northridge Academy had already dubbed her 'that frigid Everdeen girl'.

Not that she denied it; it was true, to some extent. She was reserved, only had one friend to hang out with, and didn't really mingle with the girls in her year.

It was a wonder that she was able to attend the annual Juniors' Night, an event that was the prelude to the senior prom next year. Held at a fancy hotel downtown, many of the girls opted to attend this year in hopes to socialize with the opposite sex. The food would be good, as well as the eye-candy that went with it. Attendance wasn't really a requirement, and Katniss even wanted to opt out, until…

"Don't tell me you're backing out from the challenge." The goading tone came from Madge Undersee, who was currently clad in a wine red cocktail dress wherein the skirt had two layers, and had a huge bow on the left side of her waist. A pair of black open-toe wedge adorned her feet. On her hand was a wine glass filled with punch, and she was staring at most of the people who were on the dance floor.

Well, except for the raven-haired beauty, who was currently tugging down at her body-fitting red-orange cocktail dress that had thick orange pipings that ran from the top of her dress that ran until the hem of her skirt that reached mid-thigh. On her feet were cream-colored wedges. As for her hair, it had been curled and tied up in a stylish ponytail. "I'm not backing down." Katniss hissed at her blonde friend's ear, who was trying hard not to laugh.

"Yeah, okay, I believe you." Madge rolled her blue eyes heavenward. "You've been telling me that for the past half hour."

"I-I'm waiting for the _right moment_, okay?" did she just stutter?

"And _when _is," at this, her best friend raised her remaining hand, which was her right hand to do a quoting guesture. "'the right moment'?"

"When _he_'s alone. Definitely alone." She assured the doubting blonde.

For the first time tonight, Madge had flashed a hesitant smile. "Uh, that would be hard… _he_'s always surrounded by either his friends or the girls." She sneaked a glance at the person in question, who was currently standing a few feet away from them, laughing at one of his friends' jokes. "Come on, Katniss, just do it now."

"No!" she screamed louder than she intended that some people who were near them stared at the orange-clad girl. Seeing a number of students staring at her, Katniss waved a hand in dismissal, as if there was nothing wrong with her yelling at her best friend. When they went back to their own businesses, Katniss aimed her glare eyes at Madge once again. "I have until the end of this… thing. Let me handle it!"

"Yeah, sure, just tell me when you're ready!" Madge took a huge gulp of the punch and set it at one of the empty tables. "Come on, let's get more drinks. I'm thirsty." Immediately, she grabbed Katniss' elbow and dragged her towards the refreshment table…

… Which was near where _he_ and his friends were.

Immediately, Katniss stopped in her tracks. "Uh, Madge, why don't I just wait here while you get your drink—"

"Nonsense! You look famished, and finger foods are just what you need!" somehow, Madge had managed to get themselves to the serving table, and as soon as they were about to get food, someone had tapped the blonde girl on the shoulder. Both girls turned to see Delly Cartwright smiling widely at them. "Delly! Didn't see you, sorry about that." At this, Madge started stuffing herself with chicken fingers while drinking yet another cup of punch. Katniss, on the other hand, was checking her mobile phone after hearing the familiar beep.

_Have you told him yet?_

She seriously wanted to strangle the sender.

Angrily, she pressed the lock button on her phone and stuffed it back to her purse.

"Anyone sent you a message?" Katniss looked up to see Madge smiling in amusement.

"Gale." At this, Madge snorted and laughed loudly. "Oh, shut up!"

"Never knew he would go to that extent." By now, the blonde girl kept slapping her free hand at the refreshment table, earning a funny look from Delly's group of friends. "Sorry Kat, that was just…" mirth was evident in her blue eyes, and made Katniss angrier.

"Shut up." Katniss helped herself to some chicken fingers, still glaring at Madge. Just when she was about to get some punch, _he_ appeared right beside her, taking a glass as well.

"You look great." _He_ said, smiling at her.

She struggled not to drop the glassware. "Uhh… t-thanks…" she stammered, trying hard to will her heart to stop giving her palpitations. She nearly forgot the feeling of her crush nearby, for she has spent most of her high school staying away from _him_. They were neighbors their houses just across each other, and there had been times wherein they would cross paths (which only happened thrice, last she counted). To hide her nervousness, she would don her frigid mask and ignore him. "Madge was quite helpful in helping me choose…" for good measure, she tugged down at her dress, trying hard to forget just how handsome he looked. His blonde hair had been fixed up tonight, not anymore falling in waves over his forehead but had been gelled up nicely.

"It really suits you!" Delly supplied cheerfully.

After yet another uneasy smile directed at the two of them, Katniss was about to drink her punch when her mobile phone rung. Without bothering to look at the screen, she pressed the green button. "Hello?"

"Catnip!" she knew instantly who it was.

"What now?" she yelled, puzzling looks aimed at her be damned.

"So, have you done what I dared you to do?" the caller asked as if Katniss did not have an outburst. To everyone's surprise, Katniss' cheeks turned a bright shade of red, and knew that it had nothing to do with the freezing temperature of the ballroom. "Katniss? You still there?"

She hung up without a second thought and switched the profile to 'silent'. "Excuse me, I'm going out." Without waiting for an affirmation from Madge, she stomped out of ballroom, obviously fuming.

* * *

As she stood by the pool side, trying hard to calm her breath, she thought back on the day when Gale Hawthorne, the older brother figure in her life, had _suggested_ a certain dare for her to do.

"_I'm not attending Juniors' Night."_

_Gale and Madge gave her a confused look. "What? Seriously?" asked the blonde girl. "But why?"_

_The three were currently hanging out at Katniss' house on a Saturday night, two weeks before the event. Mrs. Everdeen was currently out shopping with Prim, and with the house all to herself, Katniss then invited her two best friends to hang out with her since she was bored. Right now, they were playing truth or dare after exhausting all efforts to amuse themselves, and she had picked dare. At first, Gale had asked if she was going to attend the Juniors' Night before stating his dare._

"_I just don't feel like going." She said, shrugging. "Not my kind of event, and I'm not interested in it anyway."_

_Gale Hawthorne rolled his eyes. "Bullshit, Catnip. _Not interested? _Not even one guy interests you?" at this, he folded his arms across his chest, eyebrows furrowed. "Well?"_

_To his surprise, Katniss's cheeks were tinted pink. It wasn't the heat, nor was it make-up (she never bothered with those anyway), and Gale found this interesting. "… Your face tells me another thing. Fess up, who is it?"_

_She whispered it so softly that her friends had asked her to say it three times._

"_Peeta Mellark."_

_And with that, Gale's dare was stated._

'_Why did I let him dare me again…?'_

Truth or Dare was a game she never _ever_ wanted to play again, especially if certain people named 'Gale Hawthorne' or 'Madge Undersee' were playing with her. Or if both were together in this conspiracy to make her attend the event and do a certain dare that she was sure would make Peeta Mellark think she wasn't right in the head.

But then again, it wouldn't be a daring act if it wasn't called a 'dare', right?

Grudgingly, she had to applaud both of her friends for making sure that she was seriously going to humiliate herself in front of her crush.

Letting out a sigh of exasperation, she knew she had to face the music soon, and Katniss had decided that as soon as she goes back inside the ballroom, she was finally doing it. However, as soon as she turned around to head back to the hallway that led to the ballroom, she had hit a solid wall. Coupled with her wearing heels, she was about to fall on her backside if there hadn't been a pair of strong arms that had immediately taken her by the waist.

"S-sorry about that. Clumsy me." She mumbled, looking up to the person who caught her, who was staring at her.

The familiar bright blue eyes nearly made her shriek, but managed to compose herself. "O-oh my, excuse me." She muttered, gently pushing him away from her body.

She failed to notice the hurt in his eyes. "Are you okay…?" _he_ asked once again.

"I'm fine." She said quickly, wondering how much he loathed her for being so rude. "Really. Sorry for bothering you."

Before she could even summon all of her courage back to even do what she was dared to do, Katniss made a mad dash back to the ballroom, not wanting to look back at _him_.

_I really am a coward._

* * *

Puzzlement was very much evident on Peeta Mellark's face as soon as Katniss Everdeen ran away from him. She was not okay, and as much as he wanted to ask her what was wrong, he knew he wouldn't get an answer. They weren't close; they were neighbors, but that's it. Besides, she always gave him a look that he was beneath her whenever they meet. That would have been enough to deter him from pursuing her but…

Well, she just never knew what kind of effect she had around her. No one was exempted from it, _especially him_. Despite all the glares and the frigid aura, he was still drawn to her.

Why did he have to fall for Katniss Everdeen in the first place anyway?

* * *

_Coward. Coward. Coward._

Katniss Everdeen wanted to slam her head against the wall over and over again.

Back in the ballroom where most of the students were having fun either chatting or dancing, she was feeling very much frustrated with her actions earlier. She had the chance to do it, and she just had to mess it up. "Katniss Everdeen, you just shot down your chance for a _normal school life_." She mumbled to herself, referring to what her little sister, Primrose Everdeen, said when she had been excited to know that Katniss was attending Juniors' Night.

Goodness, Peeta Mellark probably hates her now…

"Katniss…?"

She looked up to see Delly looking at her with concern in her eyes. "Oh, hi Delly." She said weakly.

"Have you seen Peeta…?"

No doubt the girlfriend was looking for him. "I last saw him at the pool area…" she supplied helpfully. "He might still be there."

"Oh, good. Come with me." Before she could even protest, Delly had grabbed her arm and was already leading her outside the ballroom. Confusion was written all over her face, but she remained silent. " 'Cause Peeta had always wanted an introduction, you know. I think it's the perfect time. I was supposed to do it earlier, but you had gone off, so…" for some reason, the blonde girl was getting excited, for she fastened her pace. When they got to the pool side, Peeta was sitting at one of plastic pool side recliners, staring at the ground.

"Peeta! Peeta!" Delly called out to her male best friend. "I want to introduce you to someone!"

"Delly, I'm not in the mood to meet anyone right now, okay?" he said, eyes still looking downward.

She huffed in response. "Oh really now? Sorry Katniss, looks like he's not in the mood. Maybe some other time." At this, Peeta jumped to his feet and took Delly's free arm.

"I didn't mean it like that, Delly." For some reason, he was turning red.

Katniss was astonished to see Delly smirk, wondering what had possessed her to introduce her boyfriend to her. "Well anyway, Katniss Everdeen, this is Peeta Mellark. Peeta, this is Katniss." Delly's right hand, which was on the raven-haired girl's arm slid down her hand and used her other hand to pull Peeta's. Then, to both of their embarrassment, the lone blonde girl had made them clasp each other's hands, all the while grinning.

"That wasn't so bad, wasn't it?" she asked sweetly, which made the blonde young man roll his eyes. "I'll leave you two to get further acquainted." with that, she made her way back to the ballroom, grinning all the while.

Delly Cartwright nearly broke into a run when she got back to the ballroom and hurriedly tried to find Madge, who was still by the buffet table, stuffing herself. "Madge! Madge!" she squealed, hugging the other blonde girl. "Step one completed!"

Madge let out a smile. "Then the rest is up to Katniss." At this, she said a silent plea to Katniss, hoping that she could telepathically send her thoughts to her best friend.

'_Don't mess up.'_

* * *

"So, uh… h-hi." Katniss said shyly, shaking his hand a bit. Peeta didn't trust himself to speak, so he simply nodded in reply. "Nice to finally… meet you. I mean, we've been neighbors our whole lives and yet…"

"Same here." He said softly that she strained to hear his reply. "So, uh, how're… you feeling tonight?"

"Fine." In truth, her heart was beating so fast that she was willing herself to calm down and ignore the fact that he was still holding her hand. "Just… annoyed at Gale, I guess."

"Gale Hawthorne?" he asked, referring to an upperclassman two years older than him. Most guys in his year knew him, for he was very much popular with the girls at Katniss' school. And of course, he was the rumored boyfriend of the older Everdeen girl. "Your… the guy you're dating, right?"

Her mouth dropped in aghast. "Where did you hear that?"

"It's not exactly a secret in my school." He informed her.

She shuddered. "No. He's like an older brother. I don't… like him in a romantic way." She made a face that Peeta found adorable. "That's just gross. It's like… incest in some way."

"I see." He smiled to himself.

She swallowed before asking. "How about you, how'd you meet Delly? She's been a classmate of mine a few times, but she and Madge get along more…"

"Childhood friends. She and I used to be neighbors for ten years before I moved near your place." He said fondly. "She also used to tell people that I was her brother."

"Brother…?"

"Yeah, well… Delly was quite persistent about us getting married when we were kids." At this, he shook his head, as if in disbelief. "The only way I convinced her not to was to tell her that I was her brother."

At this, Katniss laughed. "So, she also thinks that your older brothers are also her brothers…?"

"Nope, just me." He said, earning another chuckle from Katniss.

Awkward silence filled the air, with both of them averting their gazes from one another. "So, ummm… I think I'll go back inside and—" before she could even finish her sentence, she saw a figure of Madge heading towards the pool area, but only pops her head out through the crack on the door.

"Hey, last song before the night ends! You haven't danced to a single song, so you'd better hurry!" she called out before running back to the ballroom.

At the statement, Peeta gently gripped Katniss' hand and stared into her silver-colored irises. "Will you dance with me…?"

"D-dance?" she squeaked.

"It's nothing fancy. Relax and just sway side to side." Hands still clasped, he led her back to the ballroom, and into the dance floor, where most of their males and females were engaged in a slow dance. At the sight of some couples dancing close enough for them to bump heads, Katniss felt her face growing hot, embarrassed by the fact that she was a witness to such an intimate moment. Peeta, on the other hand, paid no heed to them and was looking at Katniss' face. "May I…?"

She gave him a puzzled look, until he gestured at the people around them wherein the girls' hands were placed on the males' shoulders, while the males' hands were on the girls' waists. Blushing a bright red, she placed both of her hands awkwardly on his broad shoulders while he himself placed his hands on the curve of her torso. Both stood several inches apart, neither wanting to take the initiative to get closer.

After the final melody of the song ended, they broke apart, staring at each other shyly and awkwardly. Katniss let out a nervous cough. "T-thank you for… dancing with me." _Even if that was the only dance I had tonight._

"It was my pleasure." He replied, meaning every word.

She suddenly found the floor interesting. "Do you… have a pen?"

"Huh?"

"J-just give me a pen." She said, still not looking up to him.

Peeta gave her a funny look, but managed to fish out a ball-point pen from his breast pocket and handed it to her. "I hope you're not planning to write all over my suit." He joked, referring to his outfit that consisted of a black-colored suit and a light blue dress shirt that brought out the color of his eyes and a navy tie. When she didn't reply and kept staring at the ground, he wondered what she was planning.

"Peeta Mellark, what I'm about to do… close your eyes until I hand back the pen in your right hand and don't look at what I'm going to write until you get home, okay?" her gray eyes were now staring back at him, as if pleading with him to comply with her request.

"Sure." He replied back, now curious as to what she was planning.

"Okay. Now close your eyes."

He did what she had asked of him, and he felt the sleeve of his suit, as well as the sleeve of his dress shirt get rolled up to his elbow. Faintly, he felt the ball point of the pen on the skin of his forearm, and it seemed like she was writing something… but what?

"Done." She said softly, pressing the pen on his right hand. At this, he opened his eyes, and was surprised to feel her body press against him. All of a sudden, he felt his face grow warm. "Thank you for tonight."

Before he could stop himself, he pressed a kiss on her forehead.

She suddenly pulled away from him. "W-wha…" she stared at him in shock, unconsciously cheering at the fact that he kissed her, albeit on the forehead. Her arms went slack at her sides, her mind still reeling at his action.

'_He kissed me!'_

"S-sorry… I—" he gave her a sheepish look. "I just—" without warning, he walked out of the ballroom along with most of the students, who were ready to leave since the event was wrapping up. Katniss Everdeen stood in the nearly empty dance floor, face burning at what had just happened.

"Katniss!" Madge wrapped her arms around Katniss' middle. "Hey, you okay?"

"F-fine… Oh, and Madge?"

"Yeah?"

"You and Gale owe me a hundred each."

* * *

Peeta had managed to drive his way home in record time. The hotel was an hour away from his house without the traffic, but managed to get home in forty-five minutes, for reasons even he couldn't explain.

_Damn it, I messed up…!_

She was probably freaking out over what he did, and who wouldn't? Katniss just gave him a hug, and responded back with a kiss. What the hell was he thinking?

He banged his head against the steering wheel, accidentally setting off the horn in the process, but Peeta ignored it, still hung up with what he had done. Just when he thought everything would go smoothly, he just had to mess it up.

But then again, he really hadn't been in his right mind the whole evening. His mind had been on _her_ as soon as he found her in the hotel lobby, talking to her friend, Madge Undersee, and he found her breathtaking. Peeta was used to seeing her either in her school uniform or in her jeans and loose shirt, but for her to be in a body-hugging dress and in a shade that had always been his favorite color…

He realized once more why he was a goner in the first place.

Grimacing once more, he got out of the car as soon as he turned off the engine, locked it, and headed inside the house. Carefully, he made his way upstairs to his room and began undressing. Though he was not yet sleepy (how could he sleep after all that had happened?), he decided to get comfortable instead, opting for just a cotton shirt and boxers. Tossing his suit, pants and dress shirt, he turned on the television, his gaming console and started playing a fighting game to ease the tension within him.

Half an hour later, he heard the sound of a car pulling over some two houses away. Pausing the game he was currently into, he walked over to the windows and sneaked a peek through the curtains. On the sidewalk was Katniss, still in her dress, but her hair had been let down, the black locks cascading over her shoulders. She seemed to be waving at the car as it drove past his house and further down the street. Peeta then watched as she made her way to her doorstep, but not before turning around to look at his house across the street. Several seconds later, she made her way inside her house, and he let out a sign of relief.

She was safe, she was home and didn't look at his house in disgust.

"Well, back to gaming…" he mumbled to himself, closing the curtains when he noticed something on his forearm and realized that he forgot all about the whole pen business. Squinting under the darkness, he noticed that there was a long line filled with numbers. Below the row of numbers were the words: "Call me maybe?"

Grinning like an idiot, he took out his mobile phone from his desk and typed in her number.

He hoped that she was still awake.

* * *

She fell asleep as soon as she lied down on the bed in her underclothes, her face free of make-up (Katnis managed to do it by lying on the bed and willing herself not to fall asleep) and was nearly in dreamland when her mobile phone started ringing like mad.

Muttering curses under her breath when she found out that the number was unregistered, she clicked the button to receive the call. "Whoever the hell you are, this better be good!" she snapped.

"Oh, umm, s-sorry…" the caller dropped the call, and five seconds later, Katniss Everdeen kept banging her head against her pillow.

Peeta Mellark called… and she just had to snap at him.

"Katniss, why did you screw up again… _why!_" she pressed the green button on her mobile twice and placed it on her ear. _Please pick up, please pick up…!_

"Hello?"

"P-Peeta, I'm sorry for earlier, I—"

"Wanna meet up?" he blurted out.

"H-huh? Uh, sure. Wanna… come over?" she mentally noted to get herself dressed before he got here.

"A-alright. I'll be there in five minutes…"

* * *

Ten minutes later, they were both sitting at the couch located in Katniss' living room, several inches apart from one another, watching television. It was already 2 in the morning, but neither of them wanted to sleep. Or in Katniss' case, she was no longer sleepy. How could one even try to sleep when Peeta Mellark graced your living room?

Currently, they were watching cartoons, and eating the popcorn that Katniss had microwaved for them.

"So…"

She looked at him. "Why did you… leave your number on my forearm?" he asked, grinning at bit at her.

"Well… it started with a dare. Don't get me wrong; I'm not… fooling around or anything. Nor I did it for fun." She added hastily. "I… uhh…"

He tilted his head, waiting for her to reply. Before she could, however, footsteps thundered down the stairs, and a blonde girl with blue eyes like his own walked over to where they were. "Katniss?" the little girl yawned.

"Prim… sorry, did I, I mean, did we wake you up?"

"No, I just got thirsty…" she then looked at Peeta and smiled. "Oh! Umm, hi."

"Hello, Primrose." He greeted, smiling at her.

Primrose walked over to where Katniss was and whispered, "I can't believe you managed to get him inside the house. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Out loud, she said, "I'll just get some water and excuse myself." With that, she disappeared into the kitchen and hastily made her way back up to her room.

As soon as they heard the door close, they looked at each other once more. "You were saying…?"

"As I was saying… I… I've… always… oh hell."

And with that, she pulled him by the collar of the shirt he wore and kissed him fully on the lips.

Upstairs, Prim had taken out her mobile phone and sent a message to three people with the following words:

_He's here in the living room with her._

After pressing the 'sent' button and before she could put down her mobile phone, a reply came from Delly.

_Looks like you really have to owe her 100._

Madge's reply followed:

_I'm more surprised with her inviting him over._

Gale's message came last, and it made Prim giggle.

_Looks like I need to have a man-to-man talk with Mellark._

Katniss' younger sister grinned to herself.

It looked like her sister would be able to have a 'normal school life', boys included.

* * *

Epilogue:

A week after the Juniors' Night was the final exams before the long summer holiday. Exams were done by noon, and most of the girls in their year had plans for after-exam parties. Madge had been planning one in her house, and she and Delly had both been in deep discussion about it for weeks, and most of their close friends were going.

"Katniss! Party at my house tonight?" Madge said, her blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders as she jogged towards her best friend's side. Lately, Katniss had been more quiet than usual and was prone to daydreaming. Madge knew that partying would help her relax a bit.

"Oh, sorry. I'll have to see. I made plans after the exams."

Delly and Madge looked at each other in confusion. "Plans?" Madge asked, knowing fully well that Katniss never had 'plans'. Even if she did, it only involved four people: her, Prim, Gale, and the newest addition, Delly. She and Delly were out because of the party preparations while Prim was going over to the Hawthornes' place to hang out with Rory, Gale's youngest brother. Gale, on the other hand, had work until seven in the evening. "With… who?"

A car suddenly pulled over by the sidewalk where all three girls stood and the passenger seat's window lowered. Peeta Mellark flashed a smile at the three. "Hey." He greeted.

Madge was too shock to say anything back while Delly waved. "Hey you! Off somewhere?"

"Yeah, we're going to hang out at my place and play videogames." He said, referring to Katniss' new obsession of playing fighting games with him. "Hope you girls don't mind…?"

"Oh, by all means, take her away!" Madge said after recovering from her initial shock. "Have fun, kids! And Peeta?"

"Yeah?"

"Just remember that you have Gale Hawthorne to answer to if you blow this up. That also includes me, Prim and Delly."

Peeta remembered the upperclassman-slash-protective-older-brother talk with Gale a few days ago at the most inconvenient time of eleven in the evening just when he was on the verge of studying for the final exams in his school. "Duly noted, Miss Undersee." He chuckled. "Katniss, you ready?"

"Yeah." She opened the passenger seat, sat comfortably and put on her seatbelt. "See you soon, Madge, Delly." The raven-haired girl waved goodbye to both of them and the two girls watched as the car drove away. Once it was out of their sight, both girls squealed in delight, giving each other a high-five.

"Mission accomplished! Thank you for your cooperation in this, Miss Cartwright." Madge gave out a mock curtsy.

"It was my pleasure, Miss Undersee." She replied, curtsying as well. "I guess both of them just needed a push in the right direction, especially Mr. Mellark."

"Same goes with the elder Miss Everdeen. Thankfully, Mr. Hawthorne was smart enough to come up with the dare." Madge winked. "Till our next… prospects?"

"Till our next prospects!" Delly Cartwright announced gleefully.

* * *

I got mostly my inspiration from the song 'Call Me Maybe' (such an earworm song, srsly), so yeah. I hope you enjoyed this.

Education Miss Everdeen will be updated before next week 'cause I was too busy dealing with plot twists in real life.

Thanks again and I hope you review!


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